An Unusual Valentine
by Natalia173
Summary: Originally part of my VDAY extravaganza. Kagome and Inu Yasha fluff. It's Valentine's day and Kagome can't deal. *Revised story, not a new chapter**One-Shot*


So a lot of my stories were written a very long time ago and need some major revisions so I'm going through, one by one, and revising/rewriting them. This was originally part of a Valentine's Day thing I did where I picked my favorite couples and wrote V-Day stories about them. Nothing new in terms of the plot, just more grammatically correct than before.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha; I simply use the characters to further the enjoyment of all

**ooOOoo**

Kagome pulled herself out of the well in a huff. She slammed her book bag down and sat on the edge of the opening, wallowing in her self-pity. She knew she was going to have to explain why she was three days early. Before she left she had complained about how behind on her work she was and how she had to go home for at least a week, yet here she was, in Feudal Japan. She didn't care; she wasn't going to answer any of them should they ask. Especially not an annoying dog haired demon.

"Kagome, you're back. What for?" came a voice from high up in a nearby tree. Kagome sighed as she recognized the sound of the one person she didn't want to see.

"Go away, Inu Yasha," she said forcefully, closing her eyes. Perhaps if she closed them tight enough, the voice would disappear as easily as the sight of him had.

"Hey! I was just wondering why you were back early. No need to snap!" he argued, jumping down from the branch that he had been napping on. He landed almost directly in front of her.

"I'll snap all I want to. Now leave me alone," she told him angrily. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. She knew he didn't deserve her irritation, or at least not all of it, but she unleashed it on him anyways.

"Stop acting like such a stupid girl," Inu Yasha scoffed at her, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I'm not being a stupid girl. You're such a jerk!" she screamed, rising to her feet.

"Kagome-"

"Sit boy!" she commanded before he could say anymore. Inu Yasha face planted. She didn't care what he had to say. She had already told him that she wanted to be alone yet he insisted on harassing her. He deserved the sit command. Kagome grabbed her bag and took off towards the village. Inu Yasha looked up just in time to see her running. He sat up, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She was usually so patient with him, or at least had been as of late. It had been quite a long time since she had used his two least favorite words. Something was obviously bothering her, and he was going to find out. He got up and started discretely following her.

**ooOOoo**

Kagome sighed as she sat by the river. She had dropped her things off at Kaede's first before coming here. Though there were questioning looks on the faces of all her friends, none of them pushed the matter. Inu Yasha had been following her since the well, seemingly intent on finding out what was going on with her. If it wasn't so annoying, it would have been cute that he thought she didn't know he was there. She had snapped at him but she had been in such a bad mood today she was still trying to feel bad about it. They hadn't fought like that for awhile.

Ever since that day at the well that she had told him how she felt, things had been different. He seemed nicer somehow. There was also the distinct possibility that he just pitied her. He loved Kikyo, she knew. He had told her so himself but she couldn't stop herself from loving him. It seemed just her bad luck that she would fall for one such as Inu Yasha: self-centered and completely wrong for her. Usually it wasn't so bad. She could usually ignore the dull ache that always seemed to be present in her chest but today was different; today was Valentine's Day. She had been at school and everyone was kissing and exchanging presents and she knew that she'd never have that because they guy she was in love with wanted to go to hell with his ex-girlfriend. If Inu Yasha hadn't been around, she might have screamed just from the frustration of it all.

"Inu Yasha, will you come out of those bushes and stop following me. It's starting to get annoying," she called without turning around. She could've been talking to a ghost had he not sauntered out and sat down next to her.

"How'd ya know I was there?" he asked cautiously. After this afternoon, he wasn't sure what would bring on her anger. Kagome shrugged.

"I can just feel when you're around," she told him honestly. She sensed him as easily as she sensed jewel shards. She continued to stare out across the river. "Why are you following me around? To call me some more names?" she asked caustically.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, his tone still soft. It just angered her all the more. The last thing she wanted was for him to be nice to her. She needed old Inu Yasha back, the Inu Yasha who yelled at her and fought with her. She needed the Inu Yasha she could be mean to and not regret it.

"Since when do you care what's wrong with me?" she spat at him. "I'm just a jewel detector, remember?" He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Kagome, stop it. Stop trying to pick a fight with me and just tell me what's wrong," he told her. She was surprised at how easily he saw through her. She looked down at the ground, ashamed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to fight off the emotions she was feeling. Finally, after a few minutes she was able to look at Inu Yasha again. His hands had fallen to her wrists, no longer restraining her.

"Today is Valentine's Day," she admitted to him as if it were a big secret instead of a holiday.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a day for all those in love to celebrate their love with each other. Usually it doesn't bother me much that I never have a boyfriend for the holiday. But this year…I don't know. It just hurts more this year. I've never had a Valentine before in my life but I just couldn't bring myself to go to school today."

"Valentine?" he asked, trying to understand what was upsetting her.

"It's what you call your lover on this day," she explained.

Inu Yasha just sat there. So that's what she had been so upset about. He didn't blame her and a large part of him knew how she felt. She didn't come straight out and say it, but he wasn't blind and he wasn't stupid. The truth was he felt the same way about her but felt that he should be forced to die with Kikyo. He had to go with her. It wasn't so much that he was in love with her anymore; he just thought that was the fate he deserved. After all that he had done in his life, he certainly didn't think he deserved to be happy with someone like Kagome.

Looking over at Kagome, he started to reconsider. Is that really what he deserved in life? He had put his feelings for Kikyo behind him, accepting the situation. Naraku had betrayed them and while tragic, not much could be done about it. Kikyo still held all that hatred, though, all that contempt. Inu Yasha had found love again, something he didn't think would happen a first time let alone a second time. Did he really want to give that up for Kikyo?

No, he didn't think he could. But what if Kagome had given up on him? Thinking about it a moment, he realized that Kagome probably thought that he was still in love with Kikyo! He almost hit himself for his stupidity. Why couldn't he see it before? Why was it he could never see things that were right there in front of his face?

He looked over at Kagome to tell her, when he realized she was crying.

"Don't cry! Why are you crying, you silly girl?"

"Nothing, it's stupid," she answered, desperately trying to get her feelings under control again. "Why are you still here anyways? Don't you have something to do besides bother me?" She wiped the tears out of her face with the back of her hand, but it didn't do much. She got up, anything to keep him from seeing her cry more, but was caught by Inu Yasha, who had stood with her, before she could run off. She struggled to get away, no longer able to bear being near him. "Let go! I don't want to be here anymore! Just let me go!" She started pounding his chest, no longer able to hold in the hurt and confusion and anger that she felt towards him. He was right there yet he might as well of been a million miles away from her. "I hate you! I hate you! Just let me go!" she screamed. She pounded on his chest one last time before collapsing into his arms sobbing.

Inu Yasha just held her, cursing his own stupidity. How could he have not seen just how strongly she really felt? How much this was tearing her apart because he was being a selfish hanyo? He felt about as big as a puppy who just got scolded. She had been bottling all this inside and all he could think about was a devotion to Kikyo he shouldn't even have. He had to admit that Kagome hid it well, but to hold it in on a day in her world that was a celebration of those in love? Daily she surprised him with her strength.

Kagome pushed away from him roughly, almost violently and Inu Yasha let her. What was she doing? He loved Kikyo and was determined to do so for the remainder of his long life. Kagome was stupid to ever think that Inu Yasha and she could be together and now she was just embarrassing herself.

"I have to go," she said hurriedly, frantically. "I shouldn't have come today. I should have stayed home. I'll check in with Kaede and everyone else before I leave but then I'm going home." She paused for a minute as if contemplating her answer then gave a short nod. "Yes, I'm going home." She turned to go then turned back to Inu Yasha. She took a small bottle out of her pocket, a bottle that Inu Yasha recognized instantly: it held the few shards they had collected since Naraku stolen all the ones they had. She placed it in his hand and closed his fingers around it. "Here, take this. I don't need it anymore."

"What do you mean? You need these to get through the well," he said to her, refusing to take the bottle.

"No, not to get back to my time I don't," she told him firmly.

"But you need it to get back here," he whispered. He realized why she was going back to the village: she wasn't checking in, she was saying goodbye. She just looked at him, defeat clear in her eyes, and then ran in the direction of the town. Inu Yasha watched her go, helplessly. She was leaving. He was never going to see her again.

**ooOOoo**

Kagome cried the whole way to Kaede's hut. She knew it wouldn't have worked and after today how could she stay around him anymore? She just couldn't take seeing him everyday, being so near to him. Even before today she had been fooling herself saying that only seeing him happy would make it okay. If anything, seeing him so happy about his decision to be with Kikyo made it worse. She had to leave as fast as possible. She had to get away and never come back.

"But, you can't leave," Shippo told her, sadness evident in his voice. He was just a kid and it was so hard for Kagome to leave him, all of them. How was someone so young to understand?

"I'm sorry, Shippo but I just can't stick around anymore. I'm going to miss all of you dearly but I just can't stay," she said, explaining as well as she could. She gave the fur ball a hug. Miroku approached her next.

"We're going to miss you. Are you sure you have to leave? It will make our quest for the jewel shards a lot harder," he told her. Kagome hugged the monk. Despite all the time he had hit on her, she really did care for him. He was a good friend.

"I just don't belong here anymore. You've located almost all the shards, even if you aren't in possession of them all. You don't need me around anymore," she answered, not explaining her feelings to her monk friend either. Miroku would probably have understood but she wasn't sure she could admit it to anyone else. He hugged her again before letting Sango approach. Sango knew everything in details. She had been the one who Kagome leaned on all this time and she knew why Kagome was leaving. Kagome couldn't have asked for a better friend in Sango. She had no one who she could talk to about Inu Yasha and not feel judged other than Sango. The two women hugged tightly.

"Oh, Kagome, he'll come around. Give him a little more time," she whispered softly. Kagome shook her head.

"No, there are some things that even you don't know," Kagome answered, taking a deep breath. She couldn't cry anymore. "Maybe one day I'll come back and tell you, when it's when everything works itself out, but not now." Sango could only nod. They both knew that Kagome was going back without any shards.

"Goodbye," Kagome addressed them before turning and leaving the hut, tears threatening to fall the entire time.

**ooOOoo**

Kagome looked up at the large tree in front of her. This is where she met him, all that time ago. She remembered every detail of what happened that day. She remembered falling through the well and seeing him attached to the tree. She also remembered feeling his ears and how soft they were, how angelic he looked, surrounded by his locks of silver, the same locks that caused them to battle with that hair demon. She smiled softly at the memory.

How they fought each other then. She supposed that even that early though, she loved him, she just didn't know it yet. She ran her hands over the bark, letting the memory of everything that had ever happened, good and bad, crash over her. She could still feel the hole from the arrow that Kikyo had pinned him with. So many memories came from this tree and not all were hers.

Taking one last glance at the tree she turned and headed back to the well to jump through it for the last time.

**ooOOoo**

Inu Yasha ran as fast as he could to Bone Eaters Well. He couldn't let her leave. He didn't know how he'd get her to stay but he'd figure something out. He hadn't planned on falling for a human woman again, in fact he had tried to avoid it, but Kagome was different. She was strong and confident and cared for him, had always cared for him. He knew their little fights didn't really mean anything, that it was just another way of saying they loved each other without actually saying it. She could yell at him all she wanted to if that's what would make it ok, he just couldn't let her leave.

He had spent the better part of an hour thinking about it, thinking that maybe he really _did _deserve to be with Kikyo. After the way he had treated Kagome he didn't deserve to be with her. She deserved someone who could treat her the way that she deserved to be treated. She deserved someone who loved only her, had only ever loved her.

But then he realized he'd still be hurting her should he let her leave. She'd think that he still loved Kikyo, which wasn't true. Kikyo was too selfish, too evil despite the façade she put on. She may have cared for him but she didn't trust him. Not like Kagome always had, from the very beginning. She knew what he was from the beginning, had released him from the tree anyways, was almost killed by him yet still didn't hesitate to travel with him when it came time to recover the jewel.

Picking up speed he dashed through the woods. He only hoped that it wasn't too late.

**ooOOoo**

Kagome walked into the well clearing for the last time. Looking up she expected to see a near-empty field, housing nothing but the whole that would send her home. She was shocked to see Inu Yasha sitting on the edge of the well. He was in the exact same position that she had been in earlier that day, back to the entrance, hands gripping the wood on either side of him. She was stunned and almost wasn't sure if she'd be able to approach him. However, if she was to go home she had to jump through the well that he was sitting on.

'Just a few more steps and then it'll be over,' she thought to herself.

"Inu Yasha, what are you doing here?" she asked, hoping that it was just to say goodbye. She wasn't sure she'd be able to say no if he tried to convince her to stay. Inu Yasha stood gracefully in one smooth motion.

"I've come to stop you from running," he told her softly, his eyes never leaving hers. Kagome dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Please, let me go," she begged.

"You were going to leave. You weren't even going to tell me goodbye. You were just going to take off," he accused, his own hurt coming through. He knew she was leaving but she hadn't told him so. Did he mean so little to her that she would've have even said goodbye? If he had not come would she really have left? He looked at Kagome and saw tears once more in her eyes. It seemed the only thing he could manage was to make her cry.

"I couldn't. I just… couldn't," she stuttered out through her sobs. She couldn't explain to him all the reasons she hadn't told him goodbye. If she had, she would have told him things that he didn't want to know. Inu Yasha moved towards her until he was only a few steps in front of her.

"You didn't even ask me how I would feel if you left. Do you care about me that little?" he whispered.

"Of course I care. That's the problem, I care too much. I... I just can't stay and watch you be with Kikyo," she confessed. "I'm glad you love her, and if that's what makes you happy then go, but don't expect me to sit here and watch the person I've fallen in love with go throw themselves in the arms of someone else!" There it was, out in the open for everyone to know. Still he didn't move, just steadily held her gaze. "I think it's time I go," she whispered. As she brushed past him his strong but gentle grip caught her arm. He pulled her close, so close she could smell him, feel him against her.

"I'm not letting you go."

"Please let me leave," she said almost inaudibly.

"I can't watch the one I love leave anymore then you can watch them be with someone else," he said to her, hugging her tightly. She looked up at him shocked and he continued. "I know I've made mistakes; I'm not going to deny that. But I also know that I've never met anyone like you. You're amazing in every way and despite everything that's happened in my life, I've fallen in love. Now that I've finally realized it, I can't let you walk out of here without knowing it." He brushed her hair behind her ear, never drawing his eyes from hers.

"Kagome, will you be my Valentine?" he said with a smirk. Kagome couldn't speak. She just smiled and nodded her head. Inu Yasha visibly relaxed. No, she wasn't going to leave, not unless he was with her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and bent his head. Kagome rose on her toes and her lips easily molded to his. It was warm and familiar and wonderful. Kagome pulled away, but only enough to look at him. Her arms were still draped around his neck.

"Maybe we should get back," she said softly.

"Later, I want to spend more time with you," he told her unabashedly. He smiled and kissed her again. Kagome chuckled softly.

"Ok," she conceded. He leaned down nuzzling her neck and placing soft kisses along it. "Inu Yasha?"

"Mmm?"

"Thanks for giving me the best Valentine's Day ever."

**ooOOoo**

The later I wrote the original stories, the easier they are to revise. They suck less. Anyways, enjoy.


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